Back From War
by HPOL001
Summary: This is a oneshot about Harold and Lillian. It's based on when Harold briefly mentioned in Shrek 2 that he had suffered a leg wound from a war so that's basically where this idea stemmed from in my head. Hope you enjoy it!


**Back From War**

 **Author's Note:** So I know that I haven't been posting anything in quite awhile and I know that some people were waiting for updates on other stories that I have started but I just don't know if I have the inspiration to really continue those, this story is just going to be a one shot so don't worry. But I am out of high school now, just graduated and got a new MacBook as a grad present so I hope to be able to write more now that I have this because my old laptop was a bit of a piece of crap and was slowly dying. So ya don't hate me and I hope you guys enjoy this story. Also this is based on when Harold was talking about how he was wounded in the war in Shrek 2.

-H&L-

Harold couldn't believe that he was in this position. He had been lying on the ground for a few minutes now as men fought and ran all around him, some were his soldiers that were trying to protect their king. Thankfully they had already won this battle but in a moment of vengeance one of the enemies had decided to try to take down Far Far Away's ruler. He had struck him down from his horse with an arrow and another had stabbed him in the leg. He was in pain as he laid there but tried not to show it upon his face. He was bleeding profusely from his leg and the arrow had hit him in his shoulder. His mouth was bleeding as well, his lip had gotten cut when he fell to the hard, cold ground. His armor had mud and grime all over it by now, as did many of the other soldiers. The enemies were finally retreating for they were seeing that they had lost the battle and were getting the bright idea that they need to back off and run away. The ones who had attacked the king were on the ground long dead already. Men were surrounding Harold now and he could see their medics starting to attend to his leg. The pain had taken over now and his mind started to become hazy. His bright brown eyes started to drop shut and before he knew it he had blacked out. One of his last thoughts beforehand were of his wife, Lillian.

Lillian was sitting miles away in their bedroom feeling that there was something wrong. It was probably just her paranoia again, she couldn't stand to be away from her husband. The couple had been married for about three years now and had been rulers of Far Far Away for two, so they were still rather new to the whole business. Lillian was horrified the night her husband brought up the subject of war and that he would be leaving soon to go fight. She didn't even want to imagine what she might do if he was to get hurt. He was the King though and it was his duty to the kingdom to go, not to mention Harold was always noble and trustworthy so he'd never back out anyway. She just missed him so much, it was going on three months from when she had last seen him when he left to join the soldiers. She wished for him to be home soon, she missed his smile, the way his eyes lit up when he saw her, his warmth, his strong arms that would hold her at night, his kiss. She sighed to herself as she looked over to his empty side of the bed once more.

Harold slowly blinked his eyes open and the blurry image slowly became more clear as he looked around. He was in a tent, what looked to be like some sort of medic tent, so they were obviously still in battle territory. He wondered why they hadn't taken off back home yet. When he went to get up he felt a sharp, striking pain run up his leg. He fell back onto the bed in slight agony. He looked down to see that his leg was heavily bandaged up, those bastards must have really got a good shot at his leg when they went at him. He sighed and then he heard some footsteps outside. They were coming closer and finally the medic came in.

"Oh your majesty! Thank god you're finally awake. The men were starting to worry," The medic said, his name was Cedric.

"How long have I been out?" The King asked with a raspy voice, he was in need of some water. Cedric came over and started to examine Harold to make sure nothing was going wrong and luckily nothing was, the King would just need time to heal.

"About a week. You took a hard hit," The man said and shook his head. "Everyone will be glad to hear that you're alright now and that you're awake."

"Are we going to go back to the kingdom then, because I'd really prefer my bed over this tent," Harold said as he grunted in pain when he adjusted his position. He had a sling on his right arm where that arrow had gotten him in the shoulder.

Cedric smiled and chuckled. "Yes I think most of us would sire, I believe that we were planning to leave as soon as you woke up. I will go and let them know to get ready to leave for the journey. And we will figure out how to get you back since you can't ride a horse on your own with that leg."

Harold sighed and nodded at that. Yes, sadly he wouldn't be able to do that for awhile, not with this leg. He would need to heal a great deal first before even thinking about riding again. The medic than bowed to the King and made his way out of the tent to inform the men to get ready for the journey back home.

Lillian had been pacing around the castle for the past few days in worry. She didn't exactly know why she felt this great fear weighing on her shoulders. She thought it was mainly because she hadn't heard from Harold in so long. He had been sending her letters regularly to her ever since they parted, but she hadn't received a single one in about two weeks. She needed to know if he was OK, if he was coming home soon, or heaven forbid if he was dead. She made sure the kingdom was in good order while her husband was gone but other than that the woman was quite like a ghost to the castle. The servants didn't see her as often, she didn't request much of anything, and her brilliant smile had been gone for some time now. The workers at the castle knew she was sad and that she missed the King. In all the years of working there at the castle, the servants had never seen a King and Queen so deeply in love with one another. It was rare and it was special. In the three years of being married the couple had never been separated this long before. Of course the King would have to go on trips for business but those only ever lasted a week at the most so this was hard for Lillian to deal with. Once the King had returned the servants were sure that the Queen would return to her normal, happy self but who knew when the soldiers would ever return.

The soldiers had packed everything up on to their horses and on their backs. They all had on their tunics that had the kingdom's emblem on it and most rode on horses. Some had carts that carried bigger, heavier things in it. They were able to get the King situated on a horse with his captain. The King rode sitting behind the captain, this way Harold wasn't in so much pain the whole way but he wouldn't have to lay in one of those damn carts and look like he had just lost his dignity. The trip itself would take at least three days, two if they were lucky and didn't hit any hard weather. So the soldiers trotted along on their horses and they were making rather good time. They were about a day and a half in and already ¾ of the way home. All the men were glad to be home, and even happier to come home in victory. The soldiers were glad to serve their king, he was young and still new to the job but he had proven himself loyal and good to the people the past two years. His father which was the King before him was always a bit more hard, he was noble and trustworthy just as his son was but never seemed to outwardly show his caring for the people as much as Harold had demonstrated. Not to mention in wars the King usually never volunteers to take a sword or an arrow for someone. Harold was noble and proving to be an amazing King. The men were close. They had a hit a few rain showers but nothing too serious. They could see the kingdom in the horizon. The trip had taken about two and a half days and the men felt so relieved to be so close to home after three months. Harold smiled to himself, he would get to see Lillian again in a little while. It had been so long and he was sure she'd be so worried by now. He wasn't able to write the past few weeks and he was sure she would have been sitting there waiting for a letter from him, so as to not receive one she was probably worried to no end about what had happened.

Word didn't take long to spread around the kingdom that the soldiers could be seen just on the horizon and that they were finally this close to home. People rejoiced to be able to see their sons, fathers, brothers, or friends again. Quite quickly the news also spread up to the castle. The servants were abuzz about it but no one could find the Queen to tell her the wonderful news. The workers tried to go on with their work to tidy up the castle and make sure everything was looking quite perfect for the return of the men and the King. Cheers started to erupt at the front gates when the men came trotting into the Kingdom. Harold smiled happily as he bowed his head to the townspeople as he passed. Talk already began to spread about how they had brought home the victory and how the King was obviously hurt. The soldiers made their way up to the castle and some split off to go be welcomed back home by their families while the Captain of the guard and the medic was able to gently remove Harold from the horse and with the assistance of a crutch and the two men he was welcomed back into the castle. Harold smiled softly at his servants that were all happy to see him back and they all bowed and shared their greetings. The rest of the soldiers outside were sent off by the King's request to go reunite with their loved ones. And speaking of loved ones, Harold's bright brown eyes were searching all over the great front hall but his wife was nowhere in sight. He frowned slightly and soon waved the servants off to go back to their work. He let his captain and medic help him get upstairs to his room. He needed to lay down, his leg was starting to bother him and maybe Lillian would be up there. He sat down on the bed and rested his leg, still Lillian was nowhere to be seen.

"Thank you you two, you have been a great help to me," Harold smiled gratefully at the two men. They bowed and smiled back at their King.

"Of course your majesty," The Captain said. "I will be back tomorrow to check on you sire," Cedric said and the two men bowed once more before exiting the room as well. One of the personal servants came into the bedroom to bring Harold a snack and he smiled at her. But he couldn't get a question off his mind so he decided she'd be the best person to ask.

"Mary, where is my wife? I expected her to be there waiting for me when we returned," He frowned in confusion. She nodded in understanding.

"Yes, the rest of the servants and I have been trying to find her all day but she's nowhere to be found. We even checked in her garden, do you have any idea where she might be? She's been awfully worried about you your majesty," The servant said. Harold bit his lip as he thought for a few moments, where would Lillian go in a situation like this. His eyes than widened slightly.

"The lily pond, she's there I know it. She has to be, go check there please and send her up here." He smiled and nodded in certainty. The lily pond was their spot, she had to be there. She always went there when there was something on her mind.

Lillian was down at the lily pond, she had come down a few hours ago to go sit and think. She needed time away from the castle. She wanted to get out into the fresh air and ponder over things. She missed Harold so much and something just didn't feel right, she felt slightly better today though and she didn't know why. She just felt that she'd be a little bit closer to her husband down by the lily pond. She was still sitting there running her fingers through the water every now and again when she heard footsteps come up behind her. She turned her head around her blonde locks flew along with her. She saw one of their servants, Mary, coming toward her. She stood up and dusted off her dress. Mary smiled and was glad to see the Queen really was down here like the King had said.

"Your majesty, you must come up to the castle right away. You've been requested," The girl said with a smiled and a bow. Lillian furrowed her brow.

"Requested by who Mary?" The Queen asked.

"Well I want it to be a surprise, he's up in your bedroom though," Mary gestured back toward the castle. Lillian glanced up toward the towers and raised an eyebrow at the girl. Only one person could be up in her bedroom waiting for her and if it wasn't who she was thinking of than she didn't know what she would do.

"Thank you Mary, for telling me," She smiled in gratefulness and with the most grace she could muster she rushed off to the castle and hopefully to Harold. Mary smiled softly, she knew the Queen would be happy to see her King again.

Harold was still sitting on the bed in a comfortable position for once, he was eating the sandwich that Mary had brought up for him. He was starving, it was nice to be able to eat real food again and not that damned stuff they had for the past three months. It was practically gruel they were eating out there. He snapped his head up when he heard hurried footsteps and the door swing open. There she was, his beautiful wife. Her long golden locks were partially collected up but she had little strands hanging about since she had obviously just ran here. Those pools of beautiful blue were staring back at him and her gorgeous smile was etched upon her face.

"Harold," She said quietly and closed the door. Her eyes traveled over him. She noticed his bandaged leg and his arm that was in a sling immediately. How could she ever think her husband would come home without being hurt, she was just glad he was alive. No matter how hurt he was his handsome features were still there and she was just happy to see them after three months. His dark hair had grown out a bit but she didn't mind, it seemed to suit him, he had scruff on his chin, a cut on his lip, and then she connected with those beautiful golden brown eyes of his. She loved his eyes, those were the first things she fell so deeply for. She walked over to him gracefully and sat on the bed right next to him. She reached up and stroked her fingers along his face and stared up into his eyes. She ran her slender fingers through his brown locks for a moment and then cupped his strong jaw. She smiled softly at him before leaning forward and connecting their lips together. Harold smiled against her lips as he kissed his wife back, he had missed being this close to her so much. They kissed for a few minutes and enjoyed being in each others company again. They didn't need words right now, just being close to one another is enough. They pulled back after awhile and examined each others faces and got familiar with the features again after so long.

"I missed you so much," Harold spoke first as he pecked her lips once more. Lillian smiled and nodded.

"I missed you too," She replied back. She ran her hand down his chest and sighed. "You're hurt," She looked to his leg and then to his arm.

"Ya, sorry about that. I tried not to be but damn bastards snuck up on me," He shrugged and she nodded with a small smile at his explanation. "I don't think I really expected you to come back without some sort of battle scar to show off," She teased him and he chuckled. "I was trying to win your affections," He joked back and she brushed her fingers through his brunette locks that were falling in his face. "You already did a long time ago, although I think you manage to steal a piece of my heart everyday," She leaned in and kissed him gently once more.

"I guess I'm gonna have to take care of you for awhile," She raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. "Yes I suppose you're going to have, I don't mind though," He smirked at her and she giggled. They sat in comfortable silence again for a few minutes.

"You look tired, you should lay down," Lillian suggested. He nodded and did as was told. He laid down in his comfortable bed and reached his good arm out for her.

"Come here sweetheart, I need you next to me," He smiled lovingly at her. She smiled back and nodded. She curled up into his side and he wrapped his arm around waist to keep her close.

"I love you," She whispered into his neck and he leaned down to press a soft kiss to her temple.

"I love you too," Harold replied and they both slowly shut their eyes and laid there on the bed together for a few hours. They were so glad to be back together again after so long. Thankfully Harold never had to go off to another war again after that.


End file.
